An elderly British couple, released after almost eight months of captivity in Afghanistan, will return to the UK on Saturday.
Taliban leaders arrested Peter Reynolds, 80, and wife Barbie, 76, in February while they were returning to their home in Bamiyan province, central Afghanistan.
Following concerns for their health, the pair were freed on Friday and flown to the Qatari capital Doha.
They are expected to leave for London on a commercial flight on Saturday after completing medical checks.
The Reynoldses married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan, running educational programmes for women and children. They also became Afghan citizens.
When the Taliban seized power in 2021, they remained in Afghanistan even after the British embassy requested them to depart.
The Taliban did not state the reasons for detaining the couple, and Qatar brokered the negotiations leading to their release.
Barbie Reynolds appeared on the tarmac at Kabul airport on Friday and stated the couple had been treated humanely and were "looking forward to seeing our children.".
"We would like to return to Afghanistan if we could. We are Afghan citizens," she said.
They were greeted by family members on arrival in Doha, and their daughter Sarah Entwistle told AFPTV she was "overwhelmed with gratitude and relief".
The two were first detained in a maximum security facility, "then underground cells, with no natural light, before being transferred over" to the intelligence services in Kabul, UN investigators have reported.
In July, free UN human rights experts called on the Taliban regime to release them, stating that they were facing "irreparable harm or even death" as their health worsened.
The couple's family had made frequent calls for their release because of their poor health.
Foreign ministry spokesman for the Taliban Abdul Qahar Balkhi said on Friday that the couple "had committed the crimes against the laws of Afghanistan" and were let out of detention "following the judicial process.".
The four children of the Reynolds received the news of their parents' release warmly but expressed that they have a "long" road to recovery.
Britain's Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said the "long-awaited news will be a huge relief" to the family.
The British government advises against visiting Afghanistan, saying that its ability to offer consular support is "extremely limited.".
Russia is the only country that has officially supported the Taliban government, which has enforced a strict application of Islamic law and been accused of enormous human rights violations.
Foreign nationals have been arrested in scores of cases since the Taliban took control in August 2021 when the NATO withdrawal occurred.
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